Asylum
by Sekainao
Summary: Full of important decisions, life can be hard and when two souls are bounded together, life will give it's best for them to be apart. Some are tainted and some choose to be alone, but some are destined to never recover.
1. Into the Asylum

**Asylum**

_I haven't been that active in FanFiction recently and I know you all must hate me for not updating 'Regret' and 'If I close my eyes' but the truth is I have been very busy recently and I apologize for the lateness of the updating. But they were created a long time ago when I was an amateur with writing; I believe I have gotten better at writing, so at the moment they'll be put on hold. But I have a feeling you'll like this FanFiction as much as the others._

_At least I hope you do ^^_

_Please leave a comment, as this will be my first serious story._

_Enjoy!_

_..._

_Italics: Flashbacks_

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"**No matter how much you love somebody, you must go through hardships to make your heart even stronger…"**

**Chapter One**

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**Into the Asyum**

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The abused girl with bloodied fingertips walks into an airport…

'_It hurts so much…'_

Tears falling down her face and shattered mind plaguing her memories…

'_Please just kill me…'_

The last words that escaped her mouth were the same words engraved on her bracelet…

Gege

'_Gege…'_

…

The drunken man kicked the young child into a corner, beating the ragdoll-like child until he was too tired to continue. Walking away, he immediately injected dangerously harmful drugs into his right arm, carelessly using the left as he wasn't one of left handed people. He groaned as the liquid fire spread through his body, creating a pleasurable effect. The child that was beaten sat up and leaned herself against the wall for support as she would have thought her recent beating would leave her barely able to stand. She watched as her carer injected the horrible things into his body, she tried to keep herself quiet so he wouldn't turn the syringe on her. But it was hope that was in vain as the blurred man turned towards her; the child panicked and tried to back up as the staggering man came towards her at breakneck speed. She screamed as her carer pinned her down on the floor with the syringe still in his grasp, as soon as he was sure he pinned the young girl down, which was relatively easy because she was so young and he was much older and much stronger.

He took her arm and silenced her screaming with the other hand, the hand holding her arm down being the one containing the dangerous drugs. Finally, the girl found it futile to fight back and decided to just endure another injection. The older man forced the syringe far too hard into her skin, hitting the muscle in her arm and making the girl scream behind his hand. But still, the blurred man injected what was left into the tiny body. And as the syringe retreated the penetrated skin gushed out blood, the carer satisfied with what he had done, walked away leaving the child to lay there dazed and crying.

The older man soon found it hard to stand and collapsed on his bed in his dirty room, soaking in the pleasure of drugs.

This was the norm for the young girl as she had to live with this for years, since she was five she had been the victim of his beatings and exposed greatly to his new drug habit. But since her last sibling left two months ago, it had become even worse when it was focused on only her. She had been having various injections per day and she had never been taken to hospital, nor had she left this very apartment since she was five.

Her name was Mei Wang. She was currently fourteen and for nine years had been abused by her carer by the name of Yao Wang. Yao Wang was 17 years old and had taken in Mei when she was four and when he was just turning 8. Though young, Yao had the maturity to be older and had taken in three children only days prior. The three previous children were older than Mei, all of them male.

The eldest, Xiang Wang, taking his carer's last name, was the first to be found. He was found abandoned in the place of town nobody goes to, the only people found in that part of town were prostitutes and mafia men. He was seven when found by Yao, but left when he was 17. Xiang was hardly ever subject to Yao's abuse, he mostly directed it to the younger children as he was more protective over them. He tried to protect the youngest from getting hurt, but always obeyed his carer and left them alone when he was threatened to stay away.

The next one found and the middle child was Kiku Honda who was found with papers concerning his surname. He was kidnapped when he was living in Japan with his parents, but when taken to America his parents were killed immediately and was abandoned by the paedophiles that violated him and left him speechless and apparently soulless. He was found by Yao when surrounded by men near where Xiang was found, he was violated but Yao took him in. He was not abused much, but more so than Xiang, it seemed the younger they were the more they were abused. He was found at the age of 6 and left at the same times as Xiang.

The second youngest was a small Korean boy named Im Yong Soo who was taken to America for illegal testing of drugs, but when the organisation was blown up, Yong Soo was left deprived of a home and was found by Yao wandering about in the rain. Yong Soo was only 6 when found by Yao and left at the same times as Xiang and Kiku, at 16.

Finally the youngest, Mei, who has the darkest of paths at such a young age.

Mei held her arm in pain, the stinging sensation in her arm hadn't yet gone away and the pain of the drug itself was still hurting her so much. Struggling to stand, she finally had the strength to walk again. But it was only a small distance as she began to falter at the bathroom door; luckily the door was there to support the girl. She carefully walked to the basin and looked up at the mirror, sighing and running some hot water to cleanse her face with.

After the water had filled up in the basin, steam rolling from the brim, she dipped a stained pink cloth into the hot water and let it soak as she checked her wounds from the beating. She looked terrible, probably the heaviest beating she had had in a while, Mei noticed bloodied gashes all over her face, bruises on her neck where he tried to strangle her and seeing bleeding under the skin all over her torso when she checked. On her face, her lip was cut slightly but her nose was bleeding, there was also a noticeable huge gash on the side of her head, the blood soaking into her hair and down her neck. The bruises from the strangling were the worse they had ever been, they were purple and her skin had been twisted red raw. When Mei took off her shirt and threw it to the side, she noticed bleeding under the skin where there were black patches but also some bruises where he had punched her.

When the cloth was fully hot now, she ringed out most of the water and pressed it against her face, getting most of the blood onto the cloth and off her face. But the huge gash on the side of her head would have to be washed out.

Cringing from the pain she cleaned her torso and the other bruises and cuts over her body, placing the cloth back on the sink afterwards. Mei ran her fingers through her hair and took in a deep breath and when she felt she was ready, plunged her head into the sink water. When underwater, she used to reminisce about old times, which was dangerous but it relaxed Mei. Remembering old times was the only way Mei could start to forget the present.

_The boy with the youthful face cuddled the girl close to him, keeping the heat between him and her. She was so small; he could handle her carefully without fault. And as the girl drifted off into sleep, the young boy smiled and kissed her head, leading her to his small home…_

Mei quickly opened her eyes and pulled her head form the sink filled with water, feeling she was about to lose consciousness. She saw the water now and recognised blood diluting at the brim, also with water dripping down her bare back, save her underwear of course. Squeezing the water from her hair, she let it hang down her back to dry by itself. Forgetting to put her shirt back on, she retreated to the kitchen, walking past a window littered with rubbish and so dirty and neglected.

As she looked over and saw the sun shine in her eyes, she squinted to see some black shadow. And as she looked closer, she heard a glass shatter and a hand punched through the glass. Mei jumped and fell back at the surprising shattering of glass, shielding her body from the shards that might cut her. Using her hand to keep her head down, her wet black hair covering her face as the shards fell onto her body but didn't cut her.

Telling herself to look up she realised there was nobody there, no shards of glass and no evidence that a glass had ever broken. The black shadow had gone and the window was back to its dirty, neglected being, no change whatsoever. What just happened? Did she just hallucinate?

As Mei turned around, she saw Yao passed out on his bed with a bottle once containing alcohol in his hand…

…

"Where is he?" he ordered, banging his fist on the table. He was beginning to get impatient with the maid. It had been over 15 minutes just to find his son.

The man's fists began to hurt as he rampaged at his desk, still raging on the surface as the doors opened and a quaint little maid was standing in the double doorway. The man breathed heavily, looking up with eyes of pure anger at the maid and she staggered back, wondering why he was so angry at her.

"Where have you been!" he demanded, the maid brushed off her apron and cleared her throat,

"I was finding your son, sir. He is awfully quiet today and I don't think he wanted to be disturbed, but nevertheless, I bought him her-"

"Just send him through…" the man said, sighing and sitting back down at his desk, preparing for his son to arrive. The maid nodded and was about to leave, but was stopped by the powerful man, pulling her arm back. The black haired maid turned to her master and stammered,

"M-Mr…" she started,

"No, you stay here" he said tugging on her arm, "My wife doesn't seem to be too submissive recently" he explained with a harsh tug as the maid staggered back into the office. As the man sat down again, he folded his arms as he heard somebody behind the door knock, and looking up he saw his son who had inherited all of his features and not much from his mother…except those eyes…

"Father, you wanted to see me" the young man said, entering his father's office. As he stood in the centre of the room he looked over at the maid who looked frightened with her eyes on the floor, the young man squinted at her and she looked up giving a small nod of respect to her master.

"Yes, my son. Sit" he said, the man's son sat comfortably on the chair that was centred in the middle of the room. Feeling uncomfortable, the powerful man began to walk around, his hands joined behind his back. "Son, are you aware of what we do in this business?"

His son only nodded, "Yes, father. I am aware, although you cannot really call this a business"

The big man laughed in hysterics, his head flung back in pure laughter, "Ha! Yes I suppose you're right!" he gasped, composing himself, "But…in this business, you have to be ruthless, powerful, strong"

"What's the point of this father?" the younger man said, irritated at the wait,

"Hmph, well I suppose I better tell you straight with no shit involved" he cursed; he walked up to the maid and inhaled the scent of her hair. Strawberries? "Hmm~" he hummed, thinking of what to do with her, whilst she shivered in fear.

"In this business, we take advantage of women, yes?" he paused, curling his fingers around her neck, laughing when he sensed her shivers, "We need to find our one person, our one woman, to satisfy our business. And when I'm gone, I expect you to carry on for me. And do you know what that entitles?"

The younger man didn't answer and closed his eyes, not wanting to hear, but knew anyway.

"Do them"

"I know that"

"It's a job only the leader can do, a good strong man. Which is why you are to take over, not your sister"

He nodded, "I understand, I accept what I might have to do" he paused, "But…I find it utterly disgusting…"

…

The night began to show and Mei was sat in her room, on her bed, her knees pressed against her chest and her back meeting the broken headboard. She patted around her head, when Yao had very forcefully hit her, it hurt so much. She groaned as her fingers met the red, sore wound and she pulled away, feeling the stinging pain turn into a headache. She jumped off her bed and drew her curtains; Yao's apartment was small compared to the others piled on top of one another. The apartment complex was huge and therefore Yao's apartment was very difficult to find and nobody lived on either side of theirs, so nobody could hear her muffled cries for help. She looked over at Yao who was still passed out on his bed, in truth, when Yao wasn't drugged up and drunk; he was very kind to Mei. She had only ever seen him not like this once; the morning after a beating when she was six Yao had felt terrible and offered to take her to the park. But when other parents began to stare at the young girl's bruises, Yao didn't take her out anymore.

Since then, Mei hadn't been out of this tiny, cramped, disgusting apartment. Instead she spent all of her time inside and waiting for Yao to come home, normally when he had been drinking, he'd beat her. When Yao drank and took anything, he became a different person and Mei had a good thought that it wasn't Yao, but that thought disappeared as beating went on. Most of the time, Yao was out of the apartment with his colleagues, Mei didn't know what they did but one night when Yao had come home with a gun in his hand, Mei decided it would be best not to find out what he did as an occupation.

She saw Yao stir as he woke and Mei hid behind a door, not wanting her to be the first thing he'd see when he woke up. But Mei soon calmed down when Yao staggered and groaned as he rubbed his neck, was he sober? Mei hadn't seen him sober in a long time and normally the drugs would last longer, so she hadn't expected him to be. As she came out of hiding, Yao turned his head to look at his little sister, Mei's eyes widened as she ran into her room and closed the door quietly. She began to panic as she heard the soft footsteps approach her bedroom and she sat on the edge of her bed, her back facing the door so she couldn't see him. She didn't want him to see her like this, hurt, abused, dishevelled.

As Yao opened the young girl's door he saw her sitting on the bed in only her jeans and a bra, he squinted, she had a shirt didn't she?

"Mei, where's your shirt?..." he asked, his voice still drained from the earlier drugs.

Mei stayed silent for a few seconds before she answered, had it suddenly got cold? She had goosebumps on her arms, "I-It's soaking in t-the sink…Yao-ge…"

Yao was about to question why it was soaking but thought over it, of course he had beaten her, her shirt was probably soaked in blood. Yao suddenly felt a pang of regret for what he had done, but this was only the second time he had felt regret for what he had done. Now, he felt so horrible, even though what he was doing was really horrible anyway. Yao saw the bruises on her arms and her lower back, the harm he had done to her was evil, he was an evil person for doing such things to her.

Mei stood up to get her shirt from the bathroom but was stopped when Yao stood in the doorway; quickly he wrapped his arms around the child and began to cry, however, Mei did not feel sad. If he really loved her, he wouldn't do these things to her and most of all wouldn't continue to abuse drugs and alcohol in case he ever hurt her again. Mei didn't hug back, but her Gege kept crying into her shoulder, apologising over and over again.

"M-Mei…" he hiccupped, "I-I'm so sorry…I never meant t-to hurt you…" he said, the upsetting quivering in his voice making his voice choke. Although Mei never said anything and she never hugged back, he kept hugging her for a little while longer. But when he finally let go, Mei continued into the bathroom without a word said to him. Yao just stood there unsure why she was being so cold to him; he never had experience with how girls feel. He hadn't taken into account of how disturbed Mei's mind really was.

As Mei entered the bathroom and ringed out her shirt, she felt guilty about being so cold to him, but it wasn't her fault he was abusing her. Or was it? Mei's mind suddenly thought that it was her fault, '_I've been a very bad sister, no wonder he does this to me. It's my fault I'm like this, am I better off dead?'_

These questions whizzed around her head for most of the night, finally she put her shirt back on and walked into her room, wanting to sleep. But she heard a groan from Yao's room and she turned to see him, she saw him sitting on his bed with a syringe buried deep into the skin of his arm. He was shouting at himself, 'Just die! Just die already!'. Mei daren't get any closer but watched as he injected syringe after syringe of drugs into himself, was he trying to die? But soon enough Yao was out of drugs to fill the syringe with and in his rage, the drugs boiling within his skin, he came out in a rampage of anger. Having not seen Mei yet, he was just thrashing about his bedroom.

Yao paused and opened his eyes to see a blurred Mei, she gasped and thought, '_Oh no, he's on drugs again!'._Telling herself to run, she ran into her bedroom and shoved a chair in front of it, trapping the door handle so Yao couldn't get inside. As she watched the door she heard a bang and fell back, the bang was so loud it sounded as if the entire apartment complex was about to collapse. But it wasn't that, it was Yao trying to get into her room, banging against the door in a bitter rage. He growled and kept shouting 'Open the door!' at the top of his voice. He was the worst he had ever been, Mei was frightened and she stumbled to her feet, trying to find a way out of her room. But the only way, was the window. As she stared at her only escaped, the sound of banging drowned out and the whistling of wind replaced it, it was relaxing. The curtains were wafting with the wind and as Mei laid a hand on the windowsill she was met with a warm air which soothed her damaged mind. Using her bedside cabinet she climbed up onto the windowsill, her hands resting on the edges of the window to support herself. As she looked down, her heart almost stopped, it was such a long way down to the street below. She faintly heard the sound of Yao shouting 'Mei!' in the background but her mind blocked out the horrid noises. Her apartment was 82B, and there were 85 floors, making it almost the highest point.

'_I have to leave this world, before Yao does that for me…'_

As she thought this, she removed her hand from the window frame so even a little wind could carry her off the windowsill and plummeting down to the street below. Taking an inhale of breath, she allowed herself to fall forward and in that second when she was starting to fall, Yao burst into her room. At first, he had an angry face, but it soon turned into fright when he saw her falling out the window. He ran forward, trying as hard as he could to get as close as possible, throwing his arms around the girl he caught her before she plummeted down the apartment complex. Yao was angry at her, trying to leave him. At this point he wasn't aware that she was trying to kill herself, he was just angry she tried to leave. He looked down at Mei with an angry look in his eyes, but when Mei finally opened her eyes, Yao slapped her around the face and shoved her to the floor.

Mei began to cry, he was angry she tried to leave him, but that wasn't the point, he still hated her, which Mei was convinced of. And as Yao loomed over her and she cowered on the ground he spoke,

"Some day, you'll drive me too far and I might even be tempted to take your worthless virginity…" he spat, he kicked the young girl and left her room, locking it as he left.

It wasn't until he left that Mei realised she was in the same situation as this morning. Hurt, beaten and lied to.

…

**I don't own Hetalia ©**

**So this is my new story called 'Asylum' did you like it so far? Like in the start of the chapter, I mentioned the two others, I just think this one has more of a storyline. Sorry :L**

**But I hope you like this one as well ^^**


	2. Wailing in the Cells

**Asylum**

_So I'm in school and I decided to update this now because I really want to continue this and I have NO more coursework for this lesson so the teacher allows us to do what we wish (within reason of course) and I am so surprised! You guys are fast! Two reviews and I was only out for dinner! Anyway, I'll try and make the chapters the same size so they don't get shorter. My limit is about 3,000 words._

_Thank you for reviewing guys!_

_Enjoy!_

_..._

_Italics: Flashbacks_

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"**Even if you cry, the pain will only grow stronger inside of you"**

**Chapter Two**

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**Wailing in the cells**

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Overall, Yao hadn't been very impressed with Mei's attempt to kill herself and Mei was frightened, he had never used that threat before. Surely, he couldn't have been serious about it. But if he wasn't serious, he wouldn't have said it, so…

Mei whimpered in her room, it was pitch black outside and Yao had locked her door from the outside as Yao had locks on every door from when they were children to keep them safe. He touched her cheek gently, the stinging sensation of being slapped was still there but she had experienced worse. Much worse.

Mei hardly ever slept at all, at the most, she had about five hours a night. Not very much, but what did she have to get up for? She never went to school, in fact, when she was younger Xiang used to go to school and teach her back at home, which was confusing because Mei was of Mandarin decent and Xiang Cantonese. But he always tried his best to teach her Mandarin, since he was fluent in both. Yao, however, had made no attempt to educate any of them except for Xiang merely because he was the eldest. Thinking that if one of them were educated, he would teach all of them. But Xiang concentrated more so on Mei, because of her broken mind from what had happened to her parents.

There were times when Yao wouldn't be abusive at all, in fact there was one time where he bought a girl home…

'_An excited Yao, fiddled with his keys to open his apartment. He had been out all night and decided to bring his girlfriend of only two weeks back to his home. She smiled at him as he fumbled with the lock, revealing that wonderful smile to him, which in turn made Yao smile back._

"_Yao, you're so silly~" she commented, pinching his cheek._

"_You can stay here tonight if you want, the kids won't bother us" At least I hope not, he thought._

"_That'd be great, I wonder what the kids are like" she smiled._

_Yes she knew Yao had adopted four children, but if anything that's what made the woman want to be with him. Because he could take care of children. And finally, as Yao opened the door, what he saw brightened up his girlfriend's smile._

_There was Xiang, Yong soo and Kiku all playing with what seemed to be a car set that Yao had gotten from his childhood days. All three boys looked up but had the gaze as if they hated Yao. Seeming uninterested, Kiku and Yong soo went back to the car, whilst Xiang stood to his feet and greeted the woman,_

"_I'm XIang Wang" he said, stoic faced. The woman smiled as if in love with the children already._

"_I'm Jian" she replied, patting the boys head. Xiang glared at her, he didn't like to be touched. As he walked away, Yao held Jian's hand and lead her inside,_

"_Would you like anything, Jian?" Yao asked, smiling. He was only smiling because she was here and because he was mostly sober. He had had a few drinks whilst he was out and was, respectively, a bit tipsy._

_Jian laughed at his dizziness, "Just some tea, thank you Yao" she replied, sitting down with the three boys. "Didn't you say there were four children?" she asked, ruffling Yong Soo's hair whilst he smiled._

_Yao was so embarrassed, where the hell was Mei! "U-Um…Yes there are…I-I'll just call her…" Yao said, feeling extremely embarrassed. He was supposed to be setting a good example for his girlfriend, he put the kettle on and went to Mei's room. Hastily, he threw the door open and found Mei clipping a flower pin to her hair. The five year old girl looked over at her Gege, face still solemn._

"_Where the fuck have_you _been?" he snapped, Mei held her arms, attempting to calm herself down as she jumped from his sudden shout. "You're supposed to be in there! You've made me look like a fool!" he shouted, unable to control his temper. But he wasn't sure if they could hear in the other room. Mei was about to apologise but Yao grabbed the girl's hair and dragged to the Living area, the little girl screamed; now the other people could hear her._

_Jian looked up in alarm as she heard the scream, she was about to go and see but suddenly Yao came bursting into the Living room with a girl, pulling her by her hair. Yao stood Mei still and slapped her across the face, very hard. Mei fell to the ground and started to cry, being a young child, crying was the only way she could say that she was hurt. Xiang quickly got up and pulled the girl into a hug, giving a glare to Yao. And as Xiang pressed the girl to his chest acknowledging her crying, Yao punched the Wall, making a hole in it._

_Jian was stood bewildered, he actually hit a child. Shaking her head, she fled the apartment apparently crying._

Later that night, Yao had beaten Mei severely because he had thought it was her fault that she left him.

And nobody has seen her since.

Mei sighed and rose to her feet, climbing into bed and finally drifting off to sleep. Her dreams invaded by hurtfulness, shame and…

…Fear

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"Okay, we need to quickly sort this out" a man behind a desk said, there were ten men at a conference table, trying to desperately rush things for the nightly mission. "But first I must explain what we are doing" he said.

The man stood up and pointed to a presentation which was being projected onto a screen, "Do any of you gentlemen know this man?"

A picture soon appeared on the presentation, it was a man, early 20's, black hair that was tied into a ponytail and the slideshow said 'Yao Wang' on the bottom. Indicating his name, many people shook their heads. Who was this man? And what did he have to do with the mission? However, one man did know who he was. He used to be his friend and part of his group, but that soon ended when his father broke the alliance with them.

"I do" he said, speaking up. The silver haired young man stood up from his seat, addressing everybody.

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Ivan Braginski. My father's business is to traffic women and this man used to be my friend" he said, everybody in the room gasped at what he had just said. Used to be friends? Trafficking women? This man could be the son of the richest man in the world.

Ivan's violet eyes glazed around the room, sensing everybody was extremely uncomfortable now. And to catch their attention again, he coughed into his fist, sauntering around the room, hand held behind his back.

"It's a pleasure to have you here, M-Mr Braginski. But…a business man shouldn't want to go on a deadly mission"

Ivan chuckled, finding that statement hilarious, "You think just because I am a high class businessman, that I can't get my hands dirty. Now explain what I have to do on this 'mission' of yours" Ivan smiled, he wanted to get back at this man for betraying him which was partly the reason why he wanted to go.

"Well, we're not targeting Yao in particular. We want to get one of the children that live with him. We have reason to believe that there are two children still there with him, but we do not know anything about them, they have no record. Suggesting, he adopted them illegally. We are going to take one of these children and hold them for ransom, therefore when he comes to get them, we can get him and turn him in to the government in return for money. You see…Yao is a wanted man, but because he has those damn children, we can't remove him, but if you take a child and if he leaves the child, he'll be eligible to arrest. But obviously we want to have some fun with him first"

"I understand, I'll set off right away. Just give me the address" Ivan ordered, the man smiled, determined that Ivan could definitely do the job. Obviously, he knew Ivan could do the job, but he wasn't going to risk Ivan injuring himself. He was the son of a businessman after all, if he was injured, he would _not_be happy.

"But do be careful, Master Braginski, Mr Wang can be very violent at times"

"Then…why is there small children living with him?" he asked, suddenly concerned,

The man paused, "We have reason to believe he abuses children…" the man said with a solemn face, Ivan's face dropped, 'abusing children?' What a monstrous thing to do! Small, little, innocent beings, abused by the very people they're supposed to love!

"So, you're asking me to save the children?" Ivan asked, taking a slip of paper with the address on it and looking over it.

"In some aspects, yes, but when Yao is turned into the government. The children must be taken care of"

…

By the time Mei was tired, it was about half past 2 in the morning. She took off her faded shirt and put on a vest leaving her in her underwear, vest and faded bloody jeans. Mei clambered into bed, setting her head on the pillow and falling asleep finally. And she dreamed, dreaming happy things, things that she always wanted to experience, but her childhood was so short lived that she never had the chance to feel this sort of happiness…

_In my dream, there's my mother and my father and my little brother. The ones that I loved the most. It was a sunny day and little brother and I were playing in the meadows, our parents following shortly behind with their hands entwined. I smiled as little brother finally caught me, shouting 'tag' and he ran away from me again. Our smiling faces representing our happiness._

_The long grass tickled my little legs and even though I was the same age as little brother, I was still the eldest. Together even in birth, little brother and I were always together, never apart. I couldn't go even a day without seeing him, he was my other half, and he was my world since we were born._

"_Mei! Come back! It's time to go home!" Mother called, little brother and I went back to our mother but little brother paused, standing still and looking down. I paused as I ran, wondering what was wrong with him. And as I walked up to him,_

"_Little Brother?" I said quietly, he looked up with sad eyes and then suddenly hugged me._

"_Mei, I need to move on now…" he said, I began to cry. What was he talking about? No! He can't leave me!_

"_B-But…"_

"_No, thank you for the happiness, Mei. I've always wanted a twin sister like you…Thank you" Little brother said to me, I could feel his warm hug slowly disappear as his fingers went cold, but it was only as I moved that I realised he had gone._

_I began to cry as I fell to my knees, the world suddenly went black and I couldn't see anything, there was blood everywhere. Where was mother? Father? Little brother?_

_I ran, trying to find my mother again, but I only found darkness. The meadow was swallowed by the darkness and I didn't know how to feel, it was like a madness and my madness was spiralling me out of control! What can I do! Where's mother? Where's father? I want Little brother back! But he's dead! He's always been dead! Mother had a miscarriage! Only I survived! Why did I have to survive? Why can't I join him! Mother! Father! Brother!_

"Reality is always controlled by the people who are most insane"

"There is no method to my madness"

Mei couldn't breathe as she dreamed, too caught up in her dreams of madness and insanity. Her dead parents and her unborn brother, being abused and left behind, all contributing to her insanity. Her spasms were leading to her screaming out loud, calling for help in her sleep, and these soon died down as a pair of hands scooped her up and held her close…

…

Ivan was driving his own car to the apartment complex that Yao was staying at, as he looked at the sheet of paper and the apartments again, he nodded and proceeded to get out the car. He was wearing all black including a black mask to hide his identity. There would be nobody out around this time anyway, but just for safety, he had a gun and a knife on him in case anybody saw him and decided to run away.

As he exited his black car he immediately walked inside to find nobody at the reception desk and nobody in the front room at all. Taking precision stepping to make no noise, he fled up the steps and arrived at the 80th floor only to see that there was a camera in the corner of the room. He couldn't be seen, he had to be inconspicuous about his movements, the government knows who he was and with footage of him breaking and entering, the business his father runs could be in major jeopardy.

His arm reached around the corner, his hand clutching a loaded gun with a silencer on the end, the last thing he wanted was to make any noise at this time and cause any commotion. And with great precision, he shot the camera so it ceased to record footage any more. He smiled and continued up the flight of stairs to the 82nd floor, running as fast as he could but also as quietly as he could. When he got to the 82nd floor he could see that rooms 82A and 82C were not occupied as the doors were boarded up and looked quite rotten, as if they had been there for a while. Ivan directed his immediate attention towards the room…82B.

He could immediately see that the room lacked basic hygiene, even before he went inside. The door's edges were rotting and the smell that emitted from the room under the door was terrible. Despite this, he had to complete a mission and so took out a small pin used for picking locks and began on the door. Due to it being a basic door, he quickly made use of the pin and silently pushed the door open, he could hear talking, but it was muffled.

Inside, was Hell. Dirtiness everywhere, disposed clothes, rotting food and damp walls and carpet. Ivan crinkled his nose in disgust, how could his former partner sink so low. Pushing that thought away he crept across the front room and into the hallway where the bedrooms were, there were no squeaky floorboards. That was good, he didn't have to sneak back. The thing that caught his eye was the first room, it was awfully dark, but quite obvious someone was in there as the door was ajar.

Ivan shuffled along the carpet and pushed the door open wide, there on the bed, flat out, was Yao. Ivan's former partner and friend, now he had sunken so low, drugs, alcohol and abuse. Ivan shook his head as he closed the door again, but the talking still kept going, becoming louder and louder and soon into screams.

Ivan pushed the door where the sound was strongest and entered a room, it was light blue and it would have looked okay but along with Yao's room, the dampness caused it to smell. He saw a blue bed and in that blue bed was a girl, he could see her long hair, the girl was shaking and spasming violently. Ivan went over to her to see her face, putting his hand on her shoulder, also calming her down.

As he looked at her, he thought, '_What a beautiful young girl, and she's being abused by Yao? Monstrous'._

He scooped the girl up into his arm, taking the covers with him to keep her warm. He looked in the other rooms, no sign of another child though. Didn't the mission say there were two children? He looked everywhere but could not find a second one, so exited the apartment with a small girl tucked into his arms.

He quickly ran down the stairs, desperate to get the child away and soon enough arrived at his black car. He looked at the girl and fastened her seatbelt over the blanket in the passenger seat. She groaned in her sleep but Ivan ignored it and he looked up the apartment building, seeing room 82B. He got out his gun and shot at the window of 82B, quickly getting into the car and driving away.

As he drove, he looked to his left to see the girl sleeping soundly, faintly breathing as she dreamt. Ivan reached up and stroked her cheek which in turn made the girl smile in her sleep, Ivan smiled too, but at her beauty, never before had he seen a girl as beautiful as her. And driving away from the apartment complex's street he felt sorry for the girl, as her future would be darker than her past was.

Definitely.

Much darker.

…

**So this is Chapter 2~ Ivan finally comes into this and he will be the third main character in all this. China, Taiwan and Russia, but they're human, there's no referral to countries in this FanFiction, apart from where they originate I guess.**

**So I hoped you like it, I know I've said before, but review if you like. It inspires me to continue this. And if I get reviews, I'll promise I'll update a chapter every week. But don't expect it, I have exams coming up and they are very stressful, so after exams I'll get back asap anyway ^^ I hope to get this done asap anyway.**

**Thanks for reading~**

**Please review x**


	3. Annihilation of the Mind

"**The Mind begins to suffer, physically the girl is strong but mentally she is weak. For the rest of her life, so be it"**

**Chapter Three**

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**Annihilation of the Mind**

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_Darkness creeps into the world, her eyes see the sky turning black, everybody without faces and without identities. Her eyes see what is killed inside of her, what is inside of her?_

_Pain?_

"I don't want to see any more"

…

It was a sunny morning; birds were chirping and not a care in the world as a Nurse looked over at bed 301 and began writing on her clipboard. She checked the ECG and nodded, her heart rate was fine, blood pressure, fine. As the ECG beeped continuously, the Nurse began replacing the bag of liquid that was being injected through a cable into the patient, as she lay in her bed dreaming.

The Nurse took her attention from the clipboard as she saw the patient beginning to wake. The girl named, Mei, fluttered her eyelashes before hesitantly opening them, as she looked around all she could see was the brightness of a window and white bed, the faint beeping of an ECG machine and a person she could only faintly make out, standing by her bedside, guessing she was a nurse.

Mei groaned and looked over at the nurse and the blonde haired woman smiled back, welcoming her back from her deep slumber. Mei sat up in the bed, everything was white, where was she? Mei looked at her wrist and where there was the word 'name' there was a black line drawn next to it, as if the nurse didn't know her name.

"Good Morning" The nurse said, Mei looked up at her. Her eyes were pale blue and her hair the lightest shade of blonde; she wore a white outfit and carried a clipboard in her hand. The nurse took a seat, preparing to talk to her,

Mei had a moment to think about what she was going to say, but all that came out was, "什么？我在哪里？" Mei asked in her Natural tongue, unaware she wasn't speaking English.

The Nurse tried to comprehend what the young girl just said, but to no avail, she asked Mei in English,

"What's your name?" the Nurse asked, hoping the girl was just in a state of confusion. But Mei looked at her for a minute and remembered to speak in the country's language, "Mei…" she replied.

The Nurse smiled, happy that the girl had finally remembered to use the language, quickly she scribbled the word 'Wang' into the surname slot of a document. "How do you spell that, May?" she asked,

"Um…M. E. I." she replied, the nurse nodded and put the forename into the slot on the document.

"Date of birth?" the Nurse asked,

"Uh…25th October 1991" Mei replied, the Nurse nodded and filled in that date along with today's date, '5th May 2005'.

The Nurse wrote down the results of Mei's tests to see if she was in good physical condition, but her condition wasn't the best, but it wasn't bad either. About average. But what was known about her past? Mei didn't have a record; she was an illegal birth so she was abandoned, along with being the sex she was as well. She was lucky she wasn't killed, but all she had of her identity was a name that she was given on a slip of paper attached to the blanket she was abandoned with. Mei. Born in the midst of Spring was the inspiration for her name.

Mei groaned and held her head in pain, the memories spinning around her head but not quite connecting to form a memory that was useful, it hurt.

The nurse stood up and prepared to leave, "I'll send your new guardian in just a moment, Miss Mei"

Mei was about to ask who, but the door closed and the sound of shoes clicking echoed away. Mei sighed, her new guardian? Wasn't Yao her guardian…of some sort?

Mei waited for about five minutes before two men in black suits came into the door, she looked over at them and they looked frightening so she began to shake. She grabbed the covers, indicating she was scared, but after the two men arrived, so did another, with white hair and gleaming purple eyes. Mei couldn't help but look at those eyes…

The man smiled at Mei as he stood at the foot of her bed, Mei crawled backwards until her back met the headboard,

"Greetings, Mei" he said, "My name is Ivan Braginski and this is your new home"

…

Morning soon found its way over the horizon and the gleaming sun shone over the apartment complex, room 82B was enlightened with the sun's rays. Yao fidgeted in his light sleep as he opened his weary eyes and ended his glorious dreams. He sat up in his bed, dropping the half full can of alcohol that he was drinking the night before. He rubbed his head and groaned when the ray of sunlight that peeked between the blinds caught his eye for a short time. He looked away and rubbed his head, feeling his hangover boil in his head. As he got to his feet, he wobbled as the alcohol still in his system was affecting him.

With light steps he reached the toilet and emptied himself of what was inside him, mostly alcohol however. He sighed in relief, the uncomfortable need of needing the toilet disappearing quickly, but as he zipped up his trousers he looked in the mirror to see his red puffy eyes, dishevelled short hair and blood dripping from his nose. God, what was he doing to himself? But now that he was sober he decided to go and wake up Mei and apologize again for what he had done, for he could not remember.

When Yao reached Mei's room and pushed her door open he found no Mei anywhere, but a note on her blue bed. Yao eyed it mysteriously as if it was going to explode, but carefully he stepped forward and grabbed the note on her bed. Holding it in his hands, he could tell that the contents were not going to be good and the thought of that alone sent shivers up his spine. He unfolded the note slowly and saw a folded up picture inside, which fell to the unfolded the note slowly and saw a folded up picture inside, which fell to the floor, but Yao was much more concentrated on the words that were written on the sheet of paper. It read;

'Yao,

You are a monster.

How could you do such a thing to a little girl? Whose mind is now so confused, she cannot even escape it in her dreams.

Are you proud of yourself?

I took her, to keep her safe.

Until I die, you will never see this girl, again.

-Ivan Braginski'

Those last two words made Yao shake with rage and he dropped the note to the floor, suddenly remembering the other part of the note. He bent down and grasped the picture in his fingers, standing up again; he unfolded it and couldn't help but shake. A black and white picture of an apartment complex and focussed on one of the floors, the picture showed a girl standing on the windowsill, looking down as if wanting to die. Yao recognised this girl as Mei. And with a heavy heart, Yao collapsed to the floor and began crying.

A few minutes after beginning crying, Yao clenched his fists and stood again, calming himself down before he went out. He was going to sort himself out, he was going to tell the truth and he could only imagine the fear that Mei must be experiencing, but…at least she was safe now.

Safe from him.

Safe from his actions.

Yao clenched his fists until his fingernails nearly drew blood; he stormed out of the room and grabbed one of Mei's blood-stained dresses from when she was younger. It was a pink qipoa with a flower attached to the collar and before Yao went out with it, he held the delicate fabric between his fingers. The soft fabric sliding between his hands, the clothing that was meant for a 6 year old girl…now covered with blood.

Before any memories came flooding back, he ran out the front door of his apartment. The clothing within his grasp and going to turn himself in for what he had been doing to Mei for so long.

…

2 hours later

Mei was feeling very uncomfortable being around that purple eyed man, he looked sort of evil and she was wondering where they were going to take her. He followed her to the examination room where the Nurses took samples of her urine and hair follicles to determine her DNA and who her possible father or mother could have been. The only time when he actually disappeared was when Mei was helped into a wheelchair.

She was glad that he was gone; he was beginning to freak her out, with those _eyes. _The smiling Nurse pushed Mei down the white hallways as the girl was unaware what was going to happen to her, but it was if Mei's hands were tied to the arms of the chair, she couldn't move because she was so scared.

"So Mei, do you know your last name?" The smiling Nurse leaned down and asked, the awestruck girl looked over and nodded,

"Mei Wang" she replied, not so scared of the Nurse anymore. The Nurse nodded and carried on, somewhat sad that the girl was growing so accustomed to her surroundings. This was not a good place to be. This was not a place for a child.

Mei was somewhat happy that she was away from that place she used to call 'home'. But at the same time she was scared at what might happen to her, while she was here. She was scared because if the eerie feeling she got when people touched her gently.

The Nurse wheeled Mei further down the Hall and stopped at a room, Mei scrunched her nose at the smell of the Hospital, that clean smell but with a sense of chemical in the air, it was a horrible smell. The Nurse unlocked the door and wheeled Mei in, inside that room there were three men, two in lab coats and one simply standing apparently writing on a clipboard. Mei looked up at them innocently, not knowing what they were going to do with her and before she knew why she was here the door slammed and Mei turned to see that the Nurse had gone from the room and locked various bolts shut. That's when Mei got worried. She looked up at the men, one of them approached her and Mei pressed back in the chair, fearing any contact would harm her and giving him a look that told him to stay away. But he smiled sweetly as if greeting her,

"Hello, I'm Dr Hemmings. Please don't be afraid of me" he said smiling to her, Mei relaxed slightly but was still wary. "You're here so we can do a few tests, don't worry it won't take very long" he said, Mei nodded slightly, averting his gaze. Somewhat manipulative is what Mei saw him as.

"Can you stand for me?" he asked, Mei nodded again and got out of the chair, her hospital gown fell to her ankles, but it was the smallest size that they had. Arms at her side Mei kept her eyes on the floor, this felt like an inspection or something. As the doctor checked her wristband he frowned, looking at the girl again. "Don't you have a surname?" he asked, God he is asking so many questions, Mei thought, surely the Nurse could have told him.

"Wang" she replied, speaking to him. Somewhat happier, the doctor wrote down her last name, happy that she was at least talking to him. She would have to be comfortable around him to endure what was going to happen in the tests.

"Mei…Wang" he wrote down, he turned back to Mei and motioned towards the bed, "Please lie down on this bed, Mei. We'll begin the tests"

Mei walked forward, unaware of the other two doctor's worried glanced to each other. She lay down on the bed as the other doctor in the lab coat began attaching bands to her upper arms, Mei began to panic,

"Wh-What are you doing?" she stuttered, the doctors ignored her, "What are you going to do to me?" she cried, the doctors began tying her hands and legs to the bed, so that she could hardly struggle, "Let me out! Please! What are you doing?" she kept crying but they would not answer. Dr Hemmings appeared again and smiled at her a she had tears in her eyes,

"Don't worry" he kept saying, but Mei only panicked, "Rhyms, prepare the MMR syringe" he said, the other doctor in the lab coat turned to a small suitcase and held up a syringe filled with an odd blue liquid. Mei's eyes widened, _syringe_? No, she couldn't have a syringe, too many memories of Yao's abuse to her via injecting drugs were too traumatising. She struggled wildly against the straps and the doctors were not prepared for it. Dr Hemmings held her arms down and kept saying to Mei 'It won't hurt'. Exactly the same words as Yao as he jabbed the syringe into her skin, the trauma and madness made Mei believe that they were seriously harming her and she struggled more. Dr Rhyms held her arm and prepared to penetrate the skin, but Mei got her arm free and pushed Dr Hemmings away.

Scrambling from the bed, she heard Dr Hemmings fall to the ground, banging his head on a nearby table. When Dr Hemmings regained composure, Mei was pressed against the wall, staring at the syringe and then at Dr Rhyms as if he had just violated her. Mei fell down the wall, hands on arms, trying to get the goose-bumps to go away. Shaking her head, she began to cry, the memories of abuse destroying her.

…

'Number 301 to Room 3-0-1'

...

After that specific incident, only a handful of people were allowed to help Mei or go anywhere near her. These people were just hospital staff, if any doctors came near her she would scream bloody murder and push them away.

But the two male staff members took Mei somewhere else, to a room, but not like the hospital. It was decorated beautifully, with antique carpets and leather furniture in the hallways and as Mei walked down it, some women walked the opposite way in beautiful black lacy dresses. What was this place? Suddenly, she was in a beautiful mansion like place with a nice atmosphere and her hospital clothing was unusual when she was here. She was glad she was in a better place, but they kept walking and walking, until they found a specific room for her. Room number 3-0-1. The two hospital staff unlocked the door and gently gave Mei a push to go inside, the room smelled old but comforting at the same time.

As Mei entered the beautiful looking room, the staff member began to speak.

"You'll be attending a dinner party with Mr Braginski in precisely one hour. You will be required to wear the dresses provided in the drawers. We will come for you when one hour is up"

The door slammed shut and was locked, Mei took in a deep breath in and out, this was new for her. But what she was scared about was meeting that man again, the man that was there when Mei had just woken up. He just had a scary aura that drove Mei to become very frightened, sometimes shaking so badly it got out of hand.

Shaking off that feeling, Mei went over to the set of drawers and opened the top one to see 3 piles of beautiful dresses, each pile with at least 5 in. But each pile was a different size and Mei opened the rest of the drawers to see more sizes available. She picked the smallest and held the delicate fabric in her hands; it felt so soft that Mei didn't want to break the fabric if even a tug pulled it.

She walked over to the full body mirror and unfolded the dress so she had a rough idea of how it would fit, Mei gasped at the detail on the dress, the straps of the dress were made so it fell on her shoulders but her bust would hold most of the dress up. It was elegant and beautiful, almost sexy. Mei took of her hospital gown so she was exposed to nothing but her lower undergarments, the hospital required her to take off her bra. But looking in another draw she found a strapless bra which also were in different sizes. She got her size and put it on, and over her body, she slipped the beautiful black dress on. It felt so light on her small body and she smiled a little as she looked in the mirror, the black dress hides her feet but doesn't drag on the floor. The straps that cascaded to her shoulders were feathery but wouldn't budge from a little wind; also the skirt of the dress was flowing as if any movement made it swish around, but beautiful hung on her newly widened hips.

When Mei brushed her new dress, she heard the door unlock and went to look who was there. When the door opened there were two butlers waiting outside,

"Mei Wang?" One of them said, Mei nodded in reply to their question, "Follow us, Mr Braginski would like to have dinner with you"

Mei reluctantly left the sanctuary of her new room to meet the man who had sent her here.

…

**Oh hai there : )**

**Sorry about not updating this story, I wanted to finish this chapter before revising for my exams, so the next chapter is most likely not going to come for a while. But bear with me folks, I have 10 more exams to do : (**

**I wanted to save the dinner scene for the next chapter because I think that introduces us to more of the story and Ivan's intentions. Also you'll be seeing Yao a lot later in the chapters. Anyway, sorry for the delay in this one, there really was no excuse for this being so late :/**

**I also forgot to mention that this story is dedicated to Sendo Sheng~ He is a great writer and writes one of my favourite pairings, however I was unable to use HongKongxTaiwan for this one because…well….Xiang isn't likely to be abusive? And I chose the oldest ^^**

**There was a little confusion over the ages in earlier chapters which I will change, but in case you're wondering here are the new ages I decided on,**

**Yao = 17**

**Mei = 14**

**Xiang = 17**

**Kiku = 16**

**Yong Soo = 16**

**Don't blame me if some times don't add up to their ages, I get confused : (**

**That's it for now, see you next time and thank you for reading~**


	4. No Escape

"**The things that nobody remembers, will eventually become things that never existed right?"**

**Chapter Four**

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**No Escape**

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_Disgusted, she will be bound for all eternity to this Earth. The Goddess of purity will forever be entwined with the mortal world._

_Doomed to dance with death for all eternity._

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It was a Sunday Night and Yao was sat in his car, hands on the steering wheel, he was parked in the car park of the Police Station, wanting to go in, but his feet would not move. With both hands on the steering wheel, in one hand he held the little bloody pink qipoa that he wanted to hand in to prove of his monstrous behaviour, he lowered his head and took in a breath. Quickly scrambling out the car, he approached the entrance of the Police Station, not bothering to lock his car, no doubt the police wanted to check it for traces of drugs.

He pushed the glass door open and walked inside, he began to become dizzy at the thought of Mei being dead somewhere. What if that bastard killed her before he got the chance to save her? What was he kidding? She would be better off there…

Yao looked up and saw a Police woman at the desk, writing something on a pad laying in front of her. She looked up at Yao and smiled beautifully, she looked foreign. Yao walked to the desk and looked up at the woman, then at her name badge, 'Yue' it said, must be Vietnamese. Yao lowered his head in shame again, terrified for what he was about to do.

"Good morning, sir. How may I help you?" she asked politely, "Are you okay, sir?" she asked, concerned about his actions. Yao quickly looked up and wiped the tears from his eyes before they could fall/. He stared at the woman straight in the eye and said,

"Miss…I have to come clean…" he paused and she leaned forward, "…for 9 years…I have abused the child in my care…last night she was kidnapped…and I felt the urge…" he paused, placing the blood qipao on the desk, "…to turn myself in…"

The woman picked up the qipao and looked at it before she dropped in on the desk again in disgust, she looked up at Yao and said,

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

"Yes…" he replied, he wiped a tear away from his face as the woman wearing the uniform slapped some handcuffs on his wrists and lead him away.

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Meanwhile

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Mei was led by the two butlers at her side to the Dining Hall, where she would meet this new guy Ivan Braginski. Mei hiccupped slightly as she was led away, she felt safe in her room, but now that people were controlling her again she could feel thought of safety slipping away. But she didn't tell anybody, no, instead she wanted to sort herself out on her own. She wouldn't rely on anybody else again, not after all she has been through.

The butlers tried their best not to touch her for after that syringe incident the doctors made a file for her and under medical conditions putting 'thixophobia' and told staff not to touch her direct skin with their skin. Assuming that she had been beaten physically all her life, they diagnosed her with this and they did experiments to see if skin to skin contact really did make her afraid and it did. Mei didn't know why, but when different people were touching her, she got scared and ran away when really she should be afraid of Yao's touch and embracing others'.

The butlers paused in front of big double doors, the edge and the pattern of them both was gold and the handles were thick and also a gold colour, Mei didn't know if they were actually gold, but she assumed it would be. When Mei looked up, the butlers were standing at each door resting their hands on the two handles, and pressing down they allowed the doors to open and stood aside so Mei could enter. Mei nodded her head as she entered the room, immediately Mei could tell that it was an extraordinary room, only for higher people to dine in. Mei gasped at the beauty of the room; it was huge and filled with antique things that only a rich person would afford to buy. The floor was dark red with patterned black on it with gold trims and a rug in the middle and on that rug there was a small brown table. As Mei looked up at the small brown table she saw a man in a black suit, leaning on a chair with violet eyes.

As Mei looked at him, she began to shake uncontrollably, her feet began to get heavier as if to weigh her down, but still she walked towards him. As she neared him she stopped at the table, looking down to avoid looking at those bright purple eyes that stared through her soul,

"Evening, Mei Wang" he said in a low voice, Mei still shivering, "Are you hungry?" he asked subtly, in a low husky voice still. Mei nodded her head slightly as Ivan pulled out a chair and asked her to sit. Mei looked up at him, into those purple eyes and that subtle smile that was plastered across his face, that smile that said he looked sadistic and a little disturbing. Mei shivered but plopped herself on the comfy chair, she hadn't known a chair so soft and comfy.

Ivan sat on the chair opposite and poured himself some brandy; he stared at the uncomfortable girl and asked her, "Do you want some? Have you ever had it before?"

Mei looked up and shook her head, Ivan smiled and poured only a little into her glass. Slowly and cautiously, Mei reached out her hand and smelled the drink, cringing at first from the smell. But when she bought it to her lips, her childlike taste buds didn't agree with it and she tensed at the taste, but still swallowed, putting the glass back down on the table.

Ivan laughed at her reaction, just like any child would have done. He swirled his drink around in his glass and took a sip as he attempted to start a conversation before the food was ready,

"So Mei…" he paused, "Where are you from?" he asked, actually interested since she was Asian. But because of her name, she was probably Chinese.

"My older brother says I was from China originally" she answered, breaking out of her shy mood into something more confident,

"Ah, I see. I have been to China. It seems to have gone downhill since I last visited. It seems female baby abandonments are becoming more common nowadays, I'm not sure why" he said, sipping again,

Mei bowed her head again; she didn't like the conversation at the moment. Then something sprung to Ivan's mind thinking over Chinese Legends.

"Mei, have you heard of the Chunjie Maiden?" he asked, spinning his brandy and smiling sheepishly,

"No…" she paused looking up, "Who's that?"

"She is a Chinese Goddess…a thousand years ago, there was a belief that there was a child born every a hundred years and that young female is the Chunjie Maiden. The child that is born is born with the spirit of the original Chunjie Maiden inside her and will not leave until that child is dead, then that spirit will wander to another child to be born. This Maiden is well known to bring prosperity to the family and business of her husband or the one that beds her first…so…the Chunjie Maiden's virginity will bring prosperity to the business of the one who took it"

"I see, but why are you telling me thi-"

"Because!" he interrupted, suddenly smiling in her face, "Because, over the years…a-"

"Dinner is served Mr Braginski" A maid said, cutting off the sentence, Ivan bit his lip in frustration, they would finish that _after _dinner.

"We'll continue after our meal, Mei" he said, leaning back in his chair. Mei shivered at the brief cold breath of him.

…

"Next up is the sentence for Yao Wang, please proceed" the man said, through the double doors, a man named Yao Wang was accompanied by two guards who had detained him. They decided that his confession was true because of their look around in his apartment and his car, so far, he had confessed to all the crimes that were put towards him and didn't argue back when they found the tests for blood and drugs positive.

The two guards were holding Yao's arms which were behind his back as his hands were cuffed, he reached the podium where a lawyer that Yao had never seen before was provided for him, as Yao could not afford one and didn't have one anyway. The lawyer looked at Yao and shook his head, knowing that this man would be going away no matter how much the lawyer tried to defend him.

The opposing side had yet to arrive, Yao was wondering who might be approaching through them, but he didn't have the right to ask. The guard with the sheet of paper called them in,

"The opposing side, please step out" he said, the doors opened and revealed a young man. When Yao looked over he almost fainted, it was Xiang, the eldest of the children he adopted. Xiang didn't even make an attempt to look at his former carer because of what he did to Mei, to Xiang, Mei was liked his real sister. The guard lead Xiang to his podium and the teenage boy looks over at Yao and shook his head, in Xiang's hands was a couple of pictures in a large stack, pictures of Mei?

"The court in now in session, please everybody raise their right hand" The guard ordered, wanting to get it over with. As the guards un-cuffed Yao, he raised his hand as 16 year old Xiang did the same. "You are under an oath to tell nothing but the truth" the guard said, stepping to one side.

The judge looked up at Yao and asked the man, "So Mr Wang, can you tell us the name of your abused child?"

Yao took in a breath, "M-Mei…" he answered, almost breaking into tears,

"How far would you say the abuse toward her went?" the judge asked, taking not of asking Xiang afterwards,

"I thought…I wasn't doing any harm…but then I realised I was almost killing her…" he cried, but nobody felt any compassion for the man. "As far as abuse goes…I kicked her, injected her with drugs, broke her skin, strangled her, leaving marks on this child…" he said,

The judge nodded as the person in the corner noted all of this information down, Xiang was strangely uncomfortable after Yao explained his abuse towards his little sister.

"Did you ever sexually abuse this child?" The judge asked calmly, looking at the man,

"No I did not" Yao answered, he had threatened her a couple of times but didn't actually do anything to her, Xiang raised his hand and the judge let the teen speak,

"Your honour, he threatened to take her virginity many times as he got more mad at this child" Xiang said, "He injected aphrodisiacs into her foods sometimes but she was oblivious to the things that she was feeling" he answered, lowering his head again,

"I see" The judge said back, obviously taken back,

Yao's lawyer suddenly perked up, raising his hand, "I would like to call Xiang Wang to the stands for questioning" he said, the judge nodded as Xiang moved out of his place and sat down at the stand. The lawyer saw Xiang and immediately grew frightened at his stare,

"Xiang Wang" he said, "This girl was your adopted younger sister, yes?" he asked, Xiang nodded, "So did you ever abuse this little girl?" he asked, Xiang narrowed his eyes at the lawyer's suspicions but answered calmly,

"No, I did not. This girl came to my help everytime she was hurt by this man. I helped her, I would never lay a hand on her to hurt her" he answered, the lawyer pursed his lips, he was caught out,

"Was this man ever compassionate to this little girl?" he asked, hoping a positive answer, Xiang's fists balled up and he glared at Yao,

"Never" he answered blankly, "He has only ever beaten her for the years that she has been in his care" he said to the lawyer, Xiang dropped from his seat and walked back to his podium, satisfied.

"Okay, now that's over, please bring in the evidence of the abuse of this child" the judge said, and in walked two other guards holding bags and bags of evidence. They dropped it all on the table in front of Yao and Yao felt so ashamed. Inside the bags there were blood covered weapons, a few of Mei's dresses, pictures of Mei and various other things like bags of drugs.

"Please present to me the most important evidence" The judge asked, the guards took out a small dress, some pictures of Mei and a weapon that Yao had used on her. He presented them to the judge and he looked at the pictures first.

The first picture was a picture of Mei at 5 years old, at the time that Yao first adopted her, she was pictured with her eldest adopted brother, Xiang, smiling and hugging the elder boy who was seven at that time. The picture had little spots of red in one corner and the judge grew suspicious that it was her blood.

The next picture was a picture of Mei when she was 10 years old, she was not smiling, she was standing up in one of her red knee length dressed with a bow on her collar. She was looking at the camera with sad eyes, and the picture was concentrated on her neck, where it looked twisted to the point of being almost raw, where the first layers of skin were peeling off. The judge sighed in a disgusted manner and looked at another photo, which was the last.

The last picture was the most recent photograph of Mei, she was 13 years old and was sat on her bed, underneath her sitting body was pool of blood was leaking down the bed and onto the floor. Her arms were bloody, her neck, her face and her lower regions. It was easily noticeable that the young girl hadn't known what to do when she entered the route of being a young woman; the judge slammed the pictures on the counter, disgusted as he looked at Yao.

He picked a small dress that Yao had bought with him, contained in a small plastic bag. He looked at the collar and saw that the top of the collar where her neck would be was stained with a dark red liquid, looking at the decorate bow, it was soaked in blood, by now it was a darker colour blackened with age. He looked at the label and saw that it was meant for a six year old, he shook his head, disturbed by what the child must have been through.

The last bit of evident that went against Yao was the weapon that he frequently used on her, concealed again in a plastic bag. As he picked it up he had to stop tears from appearing. It was a syringe but it had been so frequently used that the end of it was not sharp anymore and it was blunt and covered in new blood, it had obviously been used frequently.

"How many syringes do you own Mr Wang?" he asked, Yao shook his head and answered,

"One" he said, the judge sighed, the same syringe he used on himself to hurt this little girl. It was amazing he hadn't gone as far as sexually abusing her.

"The jury will now decide their verdict on Mr Wang's innocence, but before I do so, I would like to ask Mr Xiang a question" he said, both Yao and Xiang looked up at the judge whose eye was twitching, "Did this man ever abuse your adopted siblings and who was abused the most?" he asked, Xiang nodded.

"He did abuse me, but I can count the times that he had, he concentrated more on the younger children, than me. Mei, the youngest, was abused the most" he answered, not looking at his Gege.

…

2 hours later

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The jury walked in again with their heads held low, one of them stayed standing up with a sheet of paper in his hands, without any emotion in his eyes or voice he read it out,

"We hereby find the Yao Wang guilty of child neglect and abuse" he said, staring at Yao. Yao turned to the judge who pointed his gavel to Yao and furrowed his eyebrows in an angry expression,

"Yao Wang, I hereby sentence you to 8 years in prison" he said banging his gavel on the desk. Yao looked at his brother to his left with teary eyes,

"Xiang, if you ever see Mei again…" he said as he was being led away, it was only at the door when he was about to go away that he actually finished his heartfelt sentence, "…tell Mei her Gege is dead!" he shouted, Xiang watched as his brother was carried away, a tear finding its way down his cheek as well.

"Mei…" Xiang murmured as he was led away through a different exit. Yao was finally gone, where he wouldn't hurt Mei anymore…

…

The two had finished their dinner and the waiter came to take the empty plates away, Mei thanked the man as he walked away with the plates.

"Now, Mei, what were we saying before we were interrupted?" Ivan asked, raising his eyebrows,

"About the Chunjie Maiden…" she replied, Ivan smiled,

"Oh yes! I was going to explain. What is going to happen is that, every girl in this institution may or may not be the Chunjie Maiden. So we test to see if the girl is the Chunjie Maiden by the rituals we use and the use of sexual intercourse as well. We bought you here because you were born on the brink of a new Chunjie Maiden appearing, so you will also be thought to be a Chunjie Maiden"

Mei looked up apparently shocked; she was going to be abused again? She shook her head as he kept talking, the anger welling up inside of her,

"It is so prestigious that you are chosen for i-" Ivan began, but Mei rose to her feet and stood about a metre from the man, clenching her fists,

"No! I don't want to be this Maiden! I don't want this abuse again! I don't care about the prestigious opportunity, I _won't _do it!-" she was cut off as Ivan quickly rose to his feet, and with the back of his hand, slapped the girl across the face. The force of the impact sent her to the ground, she whimpered as she hit the ground and felt the familiar drop of liquid form on her cheek. She touched it and realised that he had hit her with the hand he was holding the glass in, so it shattered and cut her cheek. She looked up at him as more crimson liquid began seeping out. He looked at her with no mercy,

"Know your place" he said, not caring about her injury. She lowered her head as she held her cheek in pain. "Take her to her room" he ordered and the two guards helped her up and took her to her room, cleaning the blood off her face with a damp rag.

Ivan stared at the broken glass, thinking off it like his anger, which shattered at that moment. He placed it on the table as his hand gripped around it, thinking about what he did, he tightened his hold on the glass until the rest of it completely shattered until he was clenching nothing but broken glass parts.

"Her memories must be destroyed"

…

**So~**

**Now that I have finished school, I found time to update, so yeah~**

**My exams are DONE! Originally I had 15, but now they're DONE! Thank god. Now I have left school~ So more updates~**

**I didn't expect this chapter to be so dark…and LONG. OMG. 0.0**

**I try to do long chapters. Because I wanna treat you **

**Another shout out to Sendo Sheng in this one, what can I say? I'm obsessed :/**

**He's AWESOME! **

**Also, me and funnyfanwolf (fanfiction account name) are doing a walkthrough for Project Zero 2 Wii Version! If you havne't heard of it! GO GOOGLE IT! I am so excited! Only a week till it's release! EEEEEEEEEEEEE!~**

**Until next time, Bye~ xx**


	5. Tears of Lost Souls

"**Tears will never cure the pain that rots the soul on the inside"**

**Chapter Five**

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**Tears of Lost Souls**

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_This heart of hers will never love somebody that hurts her; only the soothing touch of someone can cure the pain that she has felt for so long._

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Lying there in soft bliss, the light that was leading her to a vast memory, a man who was forcing these old memories to come up to the surface and show the pain it was causing her. As fast as the memories came back, in a wave the man forced them all away. That man in her memories…Gege? Was finally forgotten, all memory of him left within her disappeared just like that. She was left…a blank canvas, waiting to paint upon.

All she remembered was that she was abused by somebody, but couldn't for the life of her remember who did it, that person was forgotten and all memory of him that was seared into her mind flew away, like a dove escaping from a birdcage. Mei felt relieved, refreshed…but the memory and bruises of her abuse was still there. She still remembered the familiar hands squeezing around her neck and the hands that forced needles into her, like a doll. But she couldn't remember who…

She could feel an impulse inside of her; she could feel something inside of her, wanting to be free. She doesn't remember how she got here or why she was here. What was this impulse?

"I don't want to see any more"

…

Yao spent his first night in a prison cell and he cried all of that night, wanting to see Mei so very badly. His prison mate looked over at him from the top bunk of the bed and rolled his eyes, hopping down and standing in front of the man. The man was tall with white messy hair and bore a German accent,

"Dude, you haven't stopped crying all night. You some kind of pussy?" he said to Yao, Yao wiped his eyes and looked up to the man. His cheeks were wet from wiping his eyes, his amber eyes staring at the taller man,

"I just…wanted to see her again…" he said, sniffling. The taller man began to laugh hysterically, as if mocking the other,

"Are you serious? You're crying because you wanted to see your stupid little girlfriend one last time before you got jailed!" he laughed, Yao narrowed his eyes, he obviously misunderstood. Yao stood up, pushing the German aside to sit on his bed,

"Shut up, she wasn't my girlfriend" he snapped, the German man turned around to face him, hands on hips,

"Haha! Whatever. Was she 'special' to you?" he said mocking still, he folded his arms and sat on the metal toilet, taking off his shoes. "But seriously man, why so emotional?" he said suddenly, Yao was taken aback by his new attitude but answered the question anyway. Yao looked to his side, his head on the hard pillow, he sighed.

"Nine years ago…I adopted four children. They meant everything to me, but I mistreated them, the elder ones were the luckiest and were hardly beaten by me, but the youngest, my little girl…my little sister, Mei, was abused the most. Last night, she was kidnapped and before she was, I was vile towards her. I felt guilty and turned myself in…" he explained,

The German listened to his story and shook his head, even in a place like this where criminals were the worst, child abusers were made the worst of them all, but even more discriminating was if they…

"You didn't molest this child…right?" he asked, obviously quite disgusted if he had said yes.

"I would never…" he replied,

"Good, you have no idea how much you would have been bummed if you did" he replied, twisting a pocket knife in between his fingers,

"Bummed?" Yao asked, new to the word entirely.

"Guys will screw you…" Gilbert replied…

Yao sighed, he didn't want to have that experience, "So Gilbert…" he said,

"Call me, Gil" he interrupted, Yao looked to his side and smiled a bit, warming up to a newcomer was a good sign?

"Okay, what are you in for anyway?" Yao asked, propping his head up with his hand. Gilbert laughed loudly, reminiscing over what he had done in the first place,

"My brother works for a secret organisation and I killed his acquaintance that happened to be important" he said, huffing.

"I see…"

"I think she was the sister of some Braginski bastard…" he said, sharpening his knife and twirling it in his hand. Yao gasped, 'braginski'. It was Ivan? Yao bolted up, familiar with the name,

"Ivan Braginski!" Yao shouted, Gilbert widened his eyes to the other man's change in attitude. But twirled his knife in his fingers anyway,

"Yeah…that's it…why?" he asked, suspicious due to his new behaviour,

"He's the guy…who stole my girl" he replied, Gilbert paused for a second and then looked up smiling. "Hey Gil, I think we're thinking the same thing…" Yao said smiling,

"I think we are, once we get out of here. How long you in for, Wang?" he asked, quite pleased with the plan he had thought up in his head,

"8 years max, hopefully sooner if I'm _good _enough…" he replied,

"Depends how much you want the girl back…8 years is a lot of time for a kid" he said, shrugging his shoulders,

"She'd be 22 in 8 years…" Yao said, saddened by how much of her life she was going to miss, "She'll forget about me.."

Suddenly, Gilbert slapped the Chinese around the face. The black haired man stared furiously at Gilbert and shouted, "What the hell was that for?"

"For thinking so negatively. If you're good and get out earlier the earlier you get to see the girl" he replied, Yao knew he was right. Yao pouted a little as he found that he turned out to be wrong and leaned his head on his arms which were rested on the bed.

"Right, whatever. So all I need to do is keep a low profile here?" he asked, wanting to be satisfied for an early release,

"Unless you want to be bummed" Gilbert replied.

…

When Mei opened her eyes she saw a white ceiling above her, a sort of synthetic hospital feel surrounded Mei as she was laid on a leather chair trying to be as calm as possible. She looked around and sat up rubbing her head, whatever was bugging her sure wasn't going away. But she could not help but feel an empty feeling inside of her, as if something was lost inside of her. She felt like a blank canvas, everything was blank.

The person sitting in another chair next to Mei leaned forward smiling; he had glasses and looked as if to be some sort of therapist,

"How are you doing, Mei? Feeling okay?" he asked the girl, she stopped rubbing her head and looked over at the man, nodding, but still dizzy.

"Dizzy…" she replied, not wanting to say much more than what she had to. The man nodded and grabbed a small cup of water from his desk, handing it to her. Looking down on it, Mei eyed the cup suspiciously and thought of refusing it. But after a few seconds she took it, she looked down into the cup and saw the reflection of herself in the clear water. She furrowed her brows and didn't know how much she was squeezing, soon enough the cup crippled and water spilled on the floor along with the discarded cup.

"I don't need it…your help…" she said, without looking the man in the eye. The man was about to say something but the door to his office swung open and the purple eyed man entered the room. All the Russian had to do was smile that smile to make the man leave and once he had scrambled out the door, Ivan immediately closed it.

"Mei…you and I…may be the beginning of a new era…But please do be aware, if you do step out of line…our guards will not hesitate to kill you…" Ivan said, Mei stayed motionless and silent, that being enough of a response. "You will be known from now as a possible Chunjie Maiden and although you will be looked after well, you must behave in order to stay alive. We will be together and I will be the one to love you in every single way" he said, sitting down next to Mei.

The young girl didn't move and simply stared at the ground and Ivan took her hair in his hand and brushed in to her right side, leaving the left side of her neck exposed to him. He leaned in and inhaled her aroma, sighing in a pleasant way when he found her scent intoxicating. He wanted to devour her but at this point, when she was so young, he knew he had to wait. But now, with her memories of him gone, she can start again and become his. A blank canvas that he is the artist who paints on it, he can manipulate her feelings if she chooses to stay alive.

Ivan leaned in, finding the pale skin of her neck to be too tempting and gently kissed it. He could feel the girl tense from skin to skin contact, her phobia still playing a role in her life. But with his other hand around her neck, she wasn't going to do anything to anger him. But still he kept kissing it and it lasted forever until he pulled away for a second, grasping the girl's right cheeks and forcing her eyes to meet his. By now, Mei was shaking inside, wondering what he was going to do to her. But she didn't care, because no matter how much time she would spend with him, she knew she would never love him.

He was cold-hearted, he was so short-tempered. It scared Mei at the things he could do so easily, or suddenly being a kind person and then an angry, mean one. Besides, for a living, he rapes and humiliates women. She could never love a man that did that.

These thoughts were the only thing keeping her from resisting, as she felt the moving his lips against hers in a way that sent disgust into Mei's body. She hated him for what he did, for what he does. Ivan was a horrid man. A horrid young teenager that was kissing a much younger teenage girl, that was disgusting.

Mei never knew the meaning of loving someone and she never would, when someone's disgusting heart loves an innocent soul.

Eventually, Ivan pulled away and was met with a very blank face from Mei. He laughed and stood up again, opening the door and allowing her to step through.

"Come, Mei. It's time to get you cleaned up" he said, Mei looked up and stood without a word. Ivan placed a hand on her shoulder and lead her to the bathrooms to get her cleaned up.

…

When she arrived in the bathing rooms, there were about 20 other women already there, all lined up with white towels covering their nudity. As Mei was bought in, the other women looked at her in pity at how young she was but didn't say anything because it wasn't their place to.

"Mei, undress" Ivan ordered, Mei looked up at him startled about what he had just said. Ivan raised his eyebrows at her disobedience and when Mei was stood motionless not doing anything. Ivan looked around and dragged Mei behind the tiled wall, throwing her against the wall and literally tearing the dress off her.

Mei watched as he was touching her skin, she didn't like it. She tried to push him away and she screamed as he just kept on touching her bare skin but he didn't stop. In fact, to shut her up, he gripped her hair in a bunch and kept her head to the side to keep her still so he could strip the girl. Without another minute wasted, he threw the girl a towel and she quickly wrapped herself in it staring at Ivan who looked extremely angry at her foolishness. As a form of punishment, he back-handed Mei on the face, making her stumble back onto the wall and hit her head, making a big purple bruise that was barely hidden by her hair.

"Get in the line" Ivan ordered, Mei tried to stand but Ivan was impatient so he grabbed her arm much to her dismay and twisted it as he walked, making her scream as she was thrown in line with the other women.

Ivan backed away so he was standing next to the other man who was in waterproof overalls, Ivan looked over to the man and nodded.

"Shower time, ladies. Throw your towels to me" the man in overalls said as he walked up to each woman as they handed him their towels. Mei tightened her hold on the towel, knowing she would have to humiliate herself but she barely had time to think about it when the man was in front of her holding 20 towels, missing one.

After much thought and hesitation, Mei handed over her towel embarrassed to the bone she wa being exposed like this. But it didn't stop there. The man threw the towels in a corner and ordered the women to turn around facing the wall behind them; Mei kept her head down until the man knelt beside her, attaching her hanging hand to a chain connected to the wall. Mei flinched from contact but stifled herself, she realised touch was a common thing where she was now.

The man attached all the women to the wall and preceded back to his place, Mei noticed that above their heads were shower heads, but not the type to let out water. The man next to Ivan picked up the hose next to him and turned on the faucet connected to the wall, with it firmly in his hands he prepared to turn on the freezing cold water.

"Hold still, ladies" he ordered and started with the opposite end Mei was at he sprayed the women with freezing cold water, hosing them down their bodies until he moved on to the next woman. Soon he came to Mei and he did feel a little sorry for the young girl of fourteen, but he was only doing his job. Of course, the girl screamed at the contact with ice cold water and went to cover her arms but seeing her hands were chained. When he was sure Mei was covered, he turned the faucet off leaving the women shivering, but most of all, the youngest girl.

"Look down, ladies" he ordered, which they did. Suddenly, from the shower heads above them rained an odd coloured liquid used for cleaning them. But it burned the skin and the elder women didn't mind, but Mei's skin was new to the burning and she screamed at it trickled down her body, hurting her so badly. But nobody was going to help her, she knew that.

The man went one last go with the hose to get the 'soap' off the women and Mei just stood there feeling completely shelled out, humiliated and naked. One by one, the man undid the chains and the others vacated the bathrooms immediately, except Mei, who just stood staring at the wall until the man undid her chains. When he did, the girl collapsed to her knees and leaned her head on the wall, crying and sobbing at the pain and humiliation she had just felt.

Was this her life from now on? How disgusting…

But no matter how much she cried, she knew nobody felt any sympathy for her. What a life…knowing that nobody cares for you.

Mei knelt by the white wall, naked as the day she was born. One hand on the wall, the other trying to sooth the burning skin from the procedure, whist Ivan watched her behaviour from the back of the washroom.

Truthfully, it hurt not to go and help the vulnerable little girl for she was the baby out of all of them after all. All Ivan wanted to do at that point was to go and comfort her, but he knew he had a reputation to restore. His father wanted him to carry on the business and he was going to, but he couldn't do it if he was comforting the very source of the income. You had to be hard with the products, show no emotion and be spiteful.

Be abusive.

And Ivan felt guilty because Mei had already suffered the pain of abuse for 9 years…

…but.

She was still a possible Chunjie Maiden and he couldn't take any chances in losing his reputation, if he did, he would lose her.

What a life Mei had, he thought to himself as he stared at her.

"Memories are only projections of what once was…but the projector can be broken and the tape can be destroyed…that is your fate"

…

**OMGOSH it's been ages since I updated this.**

**So what do you think of the situation, kinda sad, but myeh? XD**

**The story begins to deepen here, DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN! 0-0**

**Betcha can't wait til chappie 6!~**

**Reviews or no updates! Love ya guys~**


	6. Everlasting Silence

"**The pain inside will not settle, it will only greaten with age"**

**Chapter Six**

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**Everlasting Silence**

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_This silence, it says things that sound cannot. Paranoia, hatred and the subtle whispers of memories will continue to plague me, for as long as I shall live._

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4 years later

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'In China, girls are often unwanted and abandoned on the streets. Illegal abortions often take place with mother who are pregnant with female children-' Mei skimmed over the writing as she held the book delicately in her hands.

Pale skin that was untouched by sunlight for all her life, lips as red as the blood that ran through her veins, hair as black as ebony and the heart of her master and eyes the colour of a warm Autumn.

She was indeed the most beautiful girl in the business, she was the prize to Ivan, she was his and only his. She was 18 years old and she would be preparing for her 19th very soon, but the most important thing was…her ceremony.

Her ceremony to the moon was one of great importance. Ivan had yet to explain fully to her what it meant or what she was supposed to do, but Mei liked the time she had to herself, where she could indulge in the Library, sat in her favourite spot.

Her peace and quiet was interrupted as she felt a hand on her shoulder, she looked up from her book and saw Ivan looming over her, smiling. Mei made no expression as she saw him,

"Mei…you've become such a beautiful woman…" he commented, kneeling next to Mei. Mei stared into his eyes, a familiar memory sticking within her brain but never really unravelling. "Your opening ceremony will take place soon…I will explain in your room at six sharp"

Mei nodded without a word and went to look back at her book, but before she could do so Ivan quickly pulled her into a kiss, a deep one at that. Now that she was older, she was growing more sensitive to the things that Ivan did like kissing her and stroking her shoulders. But it was a different feeling for Mei, it was disgust for the teen.

Ivan continued to pull her face into his for a long period of time, Mei had grown accustomed to his odd feeling towards her but never really telling him she didn't like it. She just kept quiet, she was disciplined to be quiet for all those years.

As Ivan pulled away he stroked a hair from Mei's face, revealing her beauty. He smiled at her but she just stared at him blankly, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.

"Oh Mei…I do hope you are the Chunjie Maiden…So I can love you…" he said in a low voice, Mei felt sick inside, hoping that this man would be so dead by then. Why would she want him? A disgusting being?

He stood up again and then left the Library, leaving Mei burning inside after what he just did. But it was not her place to talk back so she simply went back to reading her interesting book. Ivan was being called to see his superior, today was the day he got to have sex with a woman to see if SHE was the Chunjie Maiden. Although, it was high unlikely that she would be because she wasn't born on the brink of 100 years. But it was better to be safe.

This woman went through the same ceremonies that all the others had to as well, so if she was the Chunjie Maiden, a certain thing would happen to prove that she was. When the master of the business has sex with the Chunjie Maiden, the Chunjie Maiden will undergo many things like hallucinations and singing to the moon, which was result of the ceremony to the Moon.

The Moon connected with the Chunjie Maidens and nobody really ever proved why it happened, they say it is because the moon is connected to the womanly cycle so other things must connect them as well. Maidens were so entranced by the moon that Ancient Chinese made a song about it and Maidens would often go out of their rooms, be hypnotised by the Moon and sing that song. Maidens often died when they tried to get closer to the Moon by getting to the highest point they could and hurt themselves in the process.

The woman Ivan was about to meet had been singing to the moon non-stop and would go mad if there was no window to see out of, no moon in sight and she would cry out.

But before Ivan went to see the woman in his room he had a meeting, something that would send Mei's world in a whirlwind of secrets and lies. Ivan had various branches of mafia men and one particular one served great importance to Mei, but also great sorrow. One branch of mafia contained three men, Im Yong Soo, Kiku Honda and Xiang Wang. Three brothers of Mei.

There was conspiracy about Mei's existence and one of those men was going to meet Mei again and finally explain why they didn't do anything about Yao abusing her. There was a bigger story behind it. Ivan had a feeling it would hurt Mei, to the core.

Ivan arrived at the meeting room, casually walking in the door. Standing on the other side of the room, dressed in smart suits were the three brothers, staring blankly at their boss.

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"Good Afternoon, gentlemen" he said, closing the door behind him. All three of the 20 year old boys stared blankly at him as if expecting to him to say something else, "You all know why you are here, don't you?" he asked, only Xiang nodded. Only he was told about what he was about to tell Mei, the other two were much too young to accept the burden on their shoulders,

"I know" he said unemotionally, with those eyes that pierced through one's soul,

"Ah, Xiang. Follow me then" Ivan ordered, Xiang waved a goodbye to his brothers and went with Ivan to go and see Mei, before her ceremony.

As they left the room, Ivan began to talk to Xiang, "So Xiang, you're the oldest?"

"Yes, I turn 21 very soon" he replied, uninterested in the conversation he was having with the man. However, Ivan smiled and led Xiang to Mei's room where Mei was waiting for Ivan. But she wasn't going to get Ivan; she was going to see her brother which she hasn't seen in 4 years. Xiang is going to explain why he never helped her back when she was being abused. He had always comforted her and held her whilst she was crying, but he was warned all that time by Ivan…to never help her.

Ivan paused in front of Mei's door, looking at Xiang before opening it, "Are you sure you want to do this?" Ivan asked, concerned about Xiang's facial expression.

"It's something I have to do" Xiang replied, Ivan sighed, he wasn't going to argue with the boy. Ivan opened the door and allowed Xiang to enter first. Xiang took the first step in the beautiful room before he heard shuffling in the other room. Xiang carried on as his feet dragged him and he entered the bedroom he heard footsteps in. He peeked around the door and saw the back of a mature woman, long black hair and pure white skin.

She was wearing a long black dress that reached the floor only slightly, such detail on the beautiful dress. It was sleeveless so the only thing holding the beautiful masterpiece up was her chest. Seeing that she wasn't going to turn around unless he did something, Xiang knocked on the door and Mei quickly turned around.

When their eyes met, Mei's were wide and Xiang's were heart-warming. He saw how much he had matured, how beautiful her features were and her eyes which in his vision were the most beautiful of her features. Mei stood from her bed, unable to believe that this was her brother, at least she thought so. It looked like Xiang, but she was still unsure because of his maturing since he was 16.

"Xiang?" she said with a shaky voice, unable to hide her happiness if it was him.

"Hey, Mei" he replied. Suddenly, Mei ran at Xiang unable to contain how happy she was that she was able to see him again, even if it was for a short time. She threw her arms around his neck, still a little smaller than him. She wasn't at all paying attention to her phobia that the doctors thought she had, she felt so happy she paid no mind to what she feared. When her arms were around him and she was sure he was real, all fear faded away.

Xiang smiled and pulled her into a hug, resting his head on her shoulder. "I missed you so much, Mei" he said to her, she smiled,

"Idiot. Where have you been?" she asked, pulling away from the hug and staring at him.

"Working, getting my life back on track" he replied, "I'm sorry about not getting here sooner to see you" he apologized. Mei gave a warming gaze to him and patted his shoulder,

"It's okay, Xiang" she said. He smiled back at her but then remembered what he had to do,

"Mei, we need to talk" Xiang said, Mei gave a worried look but sat on her bed, patting the space next to her for Xiang. As he sat on her bed he looked solemnly at her,

"I need to tell you…" he paused,

"…Why you didn't help me when you left?" Mei finished, Xiang's eyes widened. She already knew?! "I've been wondering that since you all left, but especially you. You were the oldest and you could protect me and the others, I was so sad when you all left me behind. And now, four years later when I'm prisoner of a woman trafficker you decide to tell me why you didn't help me?"

Xiang lowered his head; it did sound rather bad how she worded it. He felt guilty about not helping her but he had a reason, but it would hurt Mei. Greatly.

"I want to explain" he paused, "You might not remember because you were so young, but Ivan visited us before when you were about six. Gege was only 9 when Ivan's father wanted them to join forces with his son in a woman trafficking business. Ivan and Yao didn't really hit it off and Yao was mouthing off to Ivan's father and that's when Ivan saw us. He favoured you out of all of us, saying you were the cutest and he wanted you to himself. He threatened all three of us to never take you away from that place, we weren't sure why back then. But I'm guessing you know now. But…he wanted you as the Chunjie Maiden from the beginning and he so wanted you to be. He couldn't risk you being saved from abuse and disappearing somewhere where he couldn't find you"

"He threatened us with your life. If we ever took you away from Yao, he would kill you and Yao in a second. Despite him only being 9 too"

"I didn't want you to be killed for my ignorance. But I'm still guilty I didn't at least take you away from that bastard"

Xiang was suddenly silenced by Mei's embrace, her soft arms wrapped around his neck. She whispered into his ear as tears ran down her cheeks, "Xiang…it's okay…I knew you were always kind…but if that was my fate…I'm okay with that…I'm here now, I'm safe…you go live your own life…" she cried,

"Mei…" he breathed, about to cry himself,

"…when I was younger…I actually had feelings for you…you were the only one who could keep me safe…but those feeling disappeared as you did too…" Mei pulled away from the embrace and faced him, brushing her hands against his cheeks. Xiang could see the tears running from her eyes and it broke his heart. Every word she had said had pulled his heart strings and hurt him from the inside, "…on behalf of my 14 year old self…" she said.

Xiang was about to say her name but Mei leaned in and silenced his lips with hers. They were soft and plump like Xiang had imagined, but he knew after this, her feelings for him would be gone. This was his parting gift from her life, for as long as it may be. The kiss was not awkward as Xiang embraced the smaller girl, but it lasted like forever and Ivan was standing outside the door, fully aware of what was going on. And he was angry but relieved this was the last time she would see him for a long time.

When Mei pulled away and opened her chocolate eyes and stood up leaving Xiang sitting on her bed, remembering the feel of her lips on his. Mei placed her hand on the cold window and said in a quiet voice without looking at him,

"I know I'll see you again…Xiang" she said,

Xiang sighed and exited the room, he also wished he would see his little sister again.

He wished.

…

Immediately after the meeting with Xiang, Mei had to proceed to the temples for her dancing ceremony. The Chunjie Maidens must praise the moon for their purity so therefore perform a dance wearing a possessed mask; they dance as if possessed by a demon whilst the musicians playing the music connect to the maiden. If the maiden performs the ritual correctly without a fault in the dance, the musicians will keep their life.

Mei was extremely angsty after seeing Xiang for the last time and she was in no mood for Ivan, but she had to do this ritual that she had been told to do. So Mei was taken to the temple where they stripped her and dressed her in a golden traditional Qipoa that reached the floor. It was sewn with such detail that every inch of it was so beautiful it was almost too delicate to wear; the Priest's also placed a headdress on Mei's head. It was pure gold and trailed almost as long as the Qipao.

The Priest who was dressed in white made Mei sit down and made her look at him. He dipped the paintbrush in the red liquid and spread it across Mei's lips, evening the liquid across the plump lips of hers. After that was done, the priest parted her hair and looked behind him. On the shrine there was an item on a pedestal that seemed to be of great importance, the Mask of The Lunar Eclipse. The priest lifted the important item and turned to Mei, the so called 'Chunjie Maiden' although it wasn't definite yet.

The priest muttered the Moon Lullaby and placed the mask upon Mei's face, the mask was pure black and cut off at the nose. The mask did not have eye holes, the point of this was so the Maiden could not see the Moon, she just danced and praised it whilst possessed by the demons.

Ivan took Mei's hand and led her to the ritual room, a big underground cave that had a circle carved into the ground. At five points around the circle there were five priestesses in their outfits with the instruments they were to play, upon the arrival of the Chunjie Maiden the five girls placed their black masks on.

The most striking feature about the moon was the ceiling, at the very top shining a light down to the centre of the circle there was the night sky. When the moon aligned in that space, it would create the Moonlight that shone out to the Chunjie Maiden and made her pure.

As Ivan let go of her hand, Mei slowly made her way to the centre of the circle, she raised her head to stare at the circle in the ceiling although she couldn't actually see anything, and she knew the Moon was coming. Suddenly, the musicians began to play the lunar melody and Mei stood still in the middle of the room, waiting for the demon to come and possess her to make her dance. The music was summoning that demon and Mei's thoughts were lost for a few moments until she felt the tingling feeling in her feet and rising through her body.

It felt as if something was taking over her, controlling her legs, her arms, her movements. The music began to get louder and the demon began to control Mei like a puppet, moving her arms in a beautiful dance that summoned the moon to come into place. Ivan watched from the back of the cave with the Priest who was watching to see if anything was to go wrong.

Ivan didn't really find it that interesting in all honesty, he didn't believe in the spiritual part of it unless something actually happened to make him believe. And as Mei continued to dance, the moon began to come into place and that's when the Priest remembered…it was a Lunar Eclipse. You can NEVER do this ceremony on the night of a Lunar Eclipse, the demon will become overpowered.

But he was powerless to step inside the circle when the demon and musicians were playing and dancing, all he could do was watch and hope that the fated thing would not happen, he couldn't even tell Ivan because he wasn't interested.

Mei began to feel as if something wasn't right, the music just kept getting louder and louder and faster and faster and the demon would still keep dancing. She felt as if she was going to drop dead if it kept going on and the mask was beginning to burn as the moon was beginning to appear in the opening.

As the music kept getting louder and faster and louder ad faster, Mei was losing it. The mask! It was burning her eyes! She tried so hard to rip it off but it was stuck on, the demon was stuck on her face and in her body, still making her dance! Stop dancing! Stop burning! The Moon…

When the moon was at it's pinnacle, Mei stood in the centre and the music suddenly silence, alerting Ivan to watch. Mei screamed as the mask burned her but she kept looking up, as if hypnotised by the moon. In a flash, the Moonlight beamed down onto the Mask and smashed the precious item into a million pieces. Just like that, the moonlight broke the masks of the girls' too ad exposed them to the light. They collapsed first.

But there was Mei with no face because the moonlight had snatched it away and she was merely hovering in mid-air until the mask pieces dropped to the ground and so did Mei's body.

The moon disappeared from the circle and darkness fell on the cave, leaving the five maiden's dead on the ground. But for Mei, the demon had left her body like an empty shell, the ceremony failed as a result of the Eclipse. So Mei laid on the ground, cold as ice, and as Ivan went over to the unconscious girl, he saw the mask shattered all over.

He picked the girl up and left with her, taking her to the infirmary. But before he did so, Ivan turned to the Priest,

"I'm sorry about the five maidens" he said with the pale girl limp in his arms. The Priest sighed,

"It's fine, we can get more of them. But…I didn't expect this outcome" he said, obviously shaken by what had just happened.

"What do you mean?" Ivan asked, curious with the Priest.

"That mask has been used in thousands of ceremonies, no Maiden like her has ever shattered it whilst performing the ceremony on the night of the Lunar Eclipse. We thought the mask could withstand that, but it works with the Maiden and her strength as a Chunjie Maiden" he replied, eyeing the five dead girls with instruments still in their grasp, "All five of the handmaidens have never dropped dead either"

"What does that mean? About the mask reflecting off the maiden?" Ivan asked, still not very clear.

"With anyone else in the same circumstance, the maidens would just merely collapse. But this maiden holds intense power ad it is due to that, that the maidens died just like that. The demon used her power against her and broke the mask so that the ceremony would be over and to kill the five maidens to make them stop playing. That girl is not just a Chunjie Maiden, she may be something more than that"

"Mei?"

"If she so wishes, using the Moon, she could destroy everything with that power"

…

**Wow…that bit was SO hard to explain. Message me if you don't get it, I'll be happy to explain ^^**

**Hope you like the update and a little bit of HKxTaiwan in there. But it's dead now so yeh…lol.**

**DEAD**

**Reviews pwease :3**


	7. Devastation

"**Why must you hurt me over and over?"**

**Chapter Seven**

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**Devastation**

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_When you lose a soul, your being is left empty. So how can a being who has lost her soul, still love with no heart?_

…

Darkness surrounds the body…closing in as your body disintegrates into a million pieces of light…the moon…

…it connects with those who have witnessed death.

Mei suddenly opened her eyes to see a pure white ceiling, her head was fuzzy but she could clearly see that she was in the infirmary. She was dressed in a white hospital gown and several needles fed into her wrist, making it hard to move. However, despite this Mei sat up in her bed only to suddenly keel over as her head repeated flashing images of the ritual she performed the night previous.

_The ritual!_ She thought, _it failed…_she thought to herself again. She pondered over what would happen now, but she couldn't help but feel something different. After the failed ritual, she felt like she had formed a new connection, but not quite knowing what it was she tried to push it aside.

"So, you're the maiden who failed the ritual" a person said, Mei's head shot up and she looked to the source but only a curtain was there. The curtain suddenly pulled away revealing a young girl, just slightly older than Mei also dressed in a white gown. She had long flowing blonde hair and emerald eyes that added to the colour differences, making her unique.

"I'm Elisabeth by the way, but call me Lizzie" she said, Mei nodded and continued to stare at the other, expecting more dialogue, "I heard…your ritual fell apart"

Mei hung her head, feeling slightly guilty she allowed the demon to possess her body too much. "Yeah…" Mei replied, quietly,

"Oh! Don't be so down! It isn't your fault. It was an eclipse; you can never do that ritual on the night of an eclipse. It's the Priest's fault. I bet that demon was too decisive, right?" Lizzie asked, cocking her head.

Mei furrowed her brows, "How do you know so much about what happened…um…Lizzie?" Mei asked,

"I was taught these things when I arrived. I understand why you weren't. You had so much therapy that teaching you these things wouldn't have been good for you" Lizzie replied, "But I've never heard of a demon being that strong before. You must have made the connection"

Mei's eyes widened, she knew she had developed a connection of some sort!

"A…connection? With what?" Mei asked, Lizzie smiled and began to explain,

"It sometimes happens when demons control the maiden too much, it's common when the maidens have witnessed death before. Nobody knows exactly why but the demon controls the maiden and makes a sort of…connection. Don't get me wrong, rituals have failed before. But never on an eclipse, because it's too dangerous…you should have died really"

"Died…"

"Yes, but you didn't. You see, when a ritual fails the demon inside the maiden tends to use a last resort which is connecting with the moon. The maiden whose demon makes this connection will often be infatuated with the light of the moon and often will go out at night to sing to it, or try and get as high as they can to touch it. Many a maiden have died falling from dangerous drops while trying to get to the moon.

But your connection may be different because yours was on an eclipse. Who knows what could happen to your connection! But there is an old legend…"

"About a ritual on the night of an eclipse?..."

"Yes! The old Chinese say that the Chunjie maiden was created by a demon on the night of an eclipse. She appeared in a stream of moonlight entirely in pure white, respecting her virginity. It was only when an Ancient Chinese Master fell in love with her that he received her power. So that's what happened. If that's what happened to the original Chunjie Maiden, maybe a similar thing will happen to you"

"I'll be…"

"Reborn, yes. You may be in direct bloodline to the original Chunjie Maiden, which makes sense because you are Chinese too"

"So what happens…when I'm reborn?" Mei asked worriedly,

"It has never happened before, so no documentation has ever been written. But…my theory…"

"…is…?"

"Because you have witnessed death, like the original Chunjie Maiden who witnessed her son die, you may be possessed by the deceased, original Chunjie Maiden"

"Why is that bad?..."

"Because the original Chunjie Maiden…slaughtered everyone in the village as revenge for abusing her power…so that means…you may-"

The door to the room suddenly opened, Mei and Lizzie looked over at the door and saw the violet eyed man standing in the doorway. Ivan saw Mei and immediately smiled seeing that she had recovered well. Ivan walked up to Mei's bed; he saw that her posture was good so her condition improved.

"Morning, Mei. I see you are feeling better and just in time too…" Ivan said, with a grin on his face. Mei looked at him as if to question,

"Just…in time?" she said, Ivan knelt down beside her bed and took her hand. He looked at his guards and nodded to which the guards hurried Lizzie away, so the two were left alone.

"Your birthday, Mei. Don't you remember?" he asked, Mei furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head,

"I have never celebrated such thing as a birthday" Mei replied, Ivan nodded and stroked her cheek.

"Tomorrow is your 18th birthday which is an important one, when you become a woman" Ivan said, "You'll be showered with gifts, Mei"

"Why would I want gifts? Mei asked, never having received any in her lifetime,

"Material goods. You don't want any?" he asked, Mei shook her head determined. "Okay then…but I have a feeling your brother's will give you something" Ivan said.

Mei didn't even batter an eyelash at the mention of her brothers; she didn't want to drag them into any of this. Ivan sighed, seemed like she didn't want to get any of this into this. But he did have a deep feeling that her eldest brother would probably send her something.

"Come along, Mei. Let's get you to your room. I'll get you some medicine when we get there" Ivan said, stepping away from the bed. Truthfully, he felt sorry for Mei, having nobody she cared about truly around her. But he hoped that she would get used to him…or rather...she'd have to.

Mei threw the sheets off her and placed her bare feet on the cold tile floor, Ivan went beside her to help her balance as she was still disorientated. He was right to stand beside her, because as soon as Mei put weight on her feet, she fell to the cold floor. Before Mei fell Ivan grabbed her shoulders and helped her to her feet again. Looking at Mei he began to grow worried, her eyes were red and her face was flushed. He placed his palm on her forehead and felt an enormous fever brewing.

Quickly, he hurried Mei to her room so that she could get some rest.

…

"What the hell?!" Yao shouted as a guard grabbed him out of his cell, Yao stumbled but was pulled to his feet again with a firm knock to the head with the guard's fist. "Where're we going!" Yao shouted at the guard, the guard was just about to hit him,

"Shout at me? Why you fucking little-"

"Yao Wang!" another voice said, both men looked forward to a man dressed in higher ranked guard uniform. "Do you know where you are?"

Yao furrowed his eyebrows as if the guard was kidding, he simply answered, "Prison" he replied,

The guard began to laugh at his response which confused Yao, "More than just a prison, the judge decides whether we get to torture our prisoners or not. The judge was so disgusted with you that he allowed us to torture you and only you…" the guard replied, Yao was awestruck but was pushed towards the secluded room before he got a chance to protest.

The guard holing Yao pushed him into the dark room; Yao fell to the cold hard floor with a pained groan, looking forward there were several men in white coats holding electrical devices.

"Wh-What's going on?!" Yao shouted, the high ranked guard walked up to Yao and smacked him around the face with a rock the size of his palm, Yao fell again, this time with a gash on his cheek.

"Stop asking questions, boy! Where are your manners?! Wait til you may speak!"

Yao quickly obeyed and lowered his head, "You, ungrateful shit. You're lucky the death sentence isn't still in place. We'll break out all the prohibited items on him, men! Make sure to tape it and send it to Mr Braginski when you're done!"

Yao was left kneeling on the ground whilst the guards fetched all the torturing equipment, under his breath followed by tears he muttered, "This is my punishment…Mei….I wish I could see you again….My little girl…why did I do this?..."

As a single tear fell to the ground, Yao received a very hard whip to the back with strands of leather.

…

A lullaby sang in the air…

_Kagayaku hoshi miageru…_

A Japanese lullaby?...

_Sora kara ichi mushiru…_

The song of the moon, created by the Japanese…

_Shinainaru kodomo…tokoro ni kinasai…_

_Fureru…_

_Kanjiru…_

Mei opened her eyes, but the difference was that her eyes were not brown this time; they were silver as if she was possessed. Without thinking of her actions, she got up from her bed in a black nightgown with a bow on the front and walked towards the door, knowing it was unlocked. It was midnight; the sky was a deep black meaning the moon would be at its peak. She walked through the hallways, so that she could get outside and without even consciously knowing, she opened the fire exit and began walking on the cold pavement towards the lighthouse.

The HQ was near the waters, yes, so that the bodies that were useless could be easily disposed of. A horrible way of thinking about it, but practical in Ivan's eyes. Still looking forward, Mei walked on, up the stairs of the lighthouse. She could hear the waves crashing against the banks as she got to the top, the nearest to the water. Her silver eyes locked onto the moon and Mei subconsciously began to sing the lullaby of the moon that she had been taught. It seemed like a distant dream, the moon gave her power that she had never felt before…as if she had some previous connection to it.

She stretched her arms to the moon, wanting to touch it and get as close as possible. She looked down and saw all the bodies of the rejected Chunjie Maidens with silver eyes, their corpses trying to reach out to the moon, but their death causing them to become immobile so they only moaned. Mei looked up again to the moon, it wasn't enough, so Mei instinctively got up on the thin railings and stood on it, reaching out to the moon.

"Yuèliàng…" she muttered as she reached. A sudden pulse of energy erupted inside of Mei, as if power had shot right through her but her body absorbed it. It put her off balance and she tumbled forwards, about to head into the watery pits.

Two arms wrapped around her before she feel, snapping her out of her trance, but still sleeping. Ivan pulled her back onto the lighthouse platform and held her close, scared shitless that she might have fallen. As strict as he was with Mei, he did deeply love her. He held her to his chest, breathing heavily.

He shook the girl to wake her up, "Mei…Mei wake up!"

Mei flickered her eyelashes until her naturally brown eyes opened again, immediately she groaned and out her hand to her head in pain.

"Ivan?...what happened?..."

"Shush. I'll tell you in the morning, I'll take you back to my room for tonight"

Scooping up the petit girl, Ivan quickly ran back to the building, avoiding staying out in the cold any longer.

Whatever happened just then, was probably going to happen again…

…and again…

…until something's done.

…

**Uhhhhh! Hi guys, short chapter this time, but it's really only a filler. I know it's been fucking ages. SORRY! College started 2 months ago for me so I have had no time to write and I have no motivation cos of all the work…so not sure when the next part is up. But it will be longer. **


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